10 Texas men cheered while raping 13-year-old girl on video

Up to 13 Texas men cheered as they filmed each other raping a 13-year-old girl, according to an Austin police report.

The girl told detectives that she was picked up by three strangers after running away from Settlement Home for Children on June 30. Court records said she was taken to the Avalon Palms Apartments and sexually assault by between 10 and 13 men.

Ortega is accused of raping the girl while the other men cheered and filmed with their cellphones. The other men then allegedly took turns in the rape, which “lasted several hours.”

Evidence gathered during a forensic exam backed up the girl’s version of events.

An affidavit said that the victim was driven to a nearby neighborhood after the assault and told to “find somewhere to go.” Police were able to track down Ortega and Perez because one of them let the girl borrow his cellphone to call her foster brother, who captured the caller ID.

If Ortega and Perez are found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child, they could be sentenced to life in prison. Police are continuing to search for additional suspects.

State child welfare investigators are also looking into to Settlement Home for Children, which takes care of abused and neglected girls under 18.Watch this video from KTBC, broadcast July 18, 2013.

Two men have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl reported several males sexually assaulted her for hours and recorded the attack with cellphone cameras.
Juan Lozano Ortega, 25, and Edgar Gerardo Guzman Perez, 26, were both charged Wednesday with aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison. They were still in custody Thursday with bail set at $30,000 each, according to jail records. Both also were being held on Immigration and Naturalization Service detainers, jail records show.

AUSTIN -- As many as 10 men allegedly took turns sexually assaulting a 13-year-old runaway Texas girl in an apartment where some cheered and filmed the attacks with their cellphone cameras, according to court records released Thursday.

Austin police answered a call to the Avalon Palms apartment complex at Rundberg and Northgate.

Detectives say the girl ran away from her group home, Settlement Home for Children, on June 30, and got into a car with three strangers.

According to an arrest affidavit, they took her inside an apartment and raped her. She says a group of 10 men cheered and filmed the assault with cellphones. Then, each one took turns assaulting her. It lasted from 10 p.m. into the early morning hours the following day.

She says the men then dumped her off on the side of the road.

Some neighbors say they're not surprised about the incident with all the gang and drug activity in the area.

"They need to be locked up," said David Green, who lives nearby. "She's only 13. She didn't have a chance to grow up. She's going to be traumatized for the rest of her life."

A medical exam confirmed the trauma to the teen's body matches her story.

Juan Lozano Ortega, 25, and Edgar Gerardo Guzman Perez, 26, were charged Wednesday with aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first degree felony. If convicted, they face up to life in prison.

They were being held Thursday in the Travis County Jail on $30,000 bond each. Court and jail records did not indicate whether the men had attorneys.

Investigators found Ortega and Perez because one of them let the girl borrow their cellphone after dropping her off in a neighborhood and telling her to "find somewhere to go," according to the court documents. The victim called her foster brother, who refused to come pick her up, but his caller ID captured the number of the suspect's phone.

Police are looking for more men in addition to the two arrested.

WFAA sister station KVUE is working to find out why the girl ran away from Settlement Home for Children. Neither Austin police nor the home will comment. Settlement Home for Children is a residential treatment center located in North Austin. It helps girls ages seven to 18 who have been been abused and neglected.

State child welfare investigators have also started investigating the Settlement Home for Children, where the girl lived, said Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Will Obama, John McCain, Marco Rubio, Al Sharpton, or Jessie Jackson be holding a rally or press conference tomorrow focusing on the raping, murdering, pillaging, and carnage done by illegal aliens from Mexico every day in this country?

Its a sad state this country has come to. Realistically the only way to deter such horrendous crimes is having an exremely severe punishment for such. Hence why I'm a full supporter of the Death Penalty is severe cases. Rape of a child, premeditated murder, serial rape/murder, and even some of the extreme gang violence. This isn't about killing those who commit though but making a deterrent that will make them think twice. So many who are doing these crimes think that prison is better then their own slice of the real world or they think they can get away with it through covering up things but at worse a few years in an easy prison environment compared to prison 100 years ago, or even 50.

I'd guarantee if we started lining up quick firing squad death penalties after a conviction and a judge ruling it as a hate ir severe heinous crime and their is no doubt in the judges mind on the circumstances being hateful ones that the death penalty is carried out quickly. If appealed gets 1 appeal that must be approved by a panel of judges within 30 days and the appeal will happen no less then 30 days after the panel approves it. 2 months and its ended. I'd guarantee that severe criminal activity within 1 year would drop significantly across the board.

Its a sad state this country has come to. Realistically the only way to deter such horrendous crimes is having an exremely severe punishment for such. Hence why I'm a full supporter of the Death Penalty is severe cases. Rape of a child, premeditated murder, serial rape/murder, and even some of the extreme gang violence. This isn't about killing those who commit though but making a deterrent that will make them think twice. So many who are doing these crimes think that prison is better then their own slice of the real world or they think they can get away with it through covering up things but at worse a few years in an easy prison environment compared to prison 100 years ago, or even 50.

I'd guarantee if we started lining up quick firing squad death penalties after a conviction and a judge ruling it as a hate ir severe heinous crime and their is no doubt in the judges mind on the circumstances being hateful ones that the death penalty is carried out quickly. If appealed gets 1 appeal that must be approved by a panel of judges within 30 days and the appeal will happen no less then 30 days after the panel approves it. 2 months and its ended. I'd guarantee that severe criminal activity within 1 year would drop significantly across the board.

jail is No good Death Penalty is the better. this is going on every day & we all have to stand Up . & say something we all have kids & grand Kids Sb

The girl, a runaway, who lives at the Settlement Home for Children, was picked up by three Latino men and driven to the Avalon Arms apartments, where she was raped by a large group of men for several hours, according to police.
As many as 13 men took turns sexually assaulting the girl. Many cheered and filmed the sickening crime on their cell phones, according to court documents.
Juan Lozano Ortega, 25, and Edgar Gerardo Guzman Perez, 26, have been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. Both are currently being held in the Travis County Jail on immigrationdetainers.View Ortega's booking info...View Guzman's booking info...KTBC reported:

The affidavit states the assault lasted until early into the morning of June 30, then the victim was driven to a nearby neighborhood and told to "find somewhere to go."
Police say they were able to track Ortega and Perez from the phone call the girl made to her foster brother with their cell phone. She was able to make it back on her own to the settlement home.

The girl was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors determined her injuries were consistent with her allegations.
Austin police are currently searching for the other assailants.
Anyone with information on this crime is urged to contact the Austin Police Department at (512) 974-5750.

In the 40-year-old Aceves' case, prosecutors said he committed two rapes in the border cities of Alamo and San Juan.

As the drug cartels have taken over the human smuggling business, the illegal journey into the United States has become even more dangerous.

When human smugglers bring those crossing illegally into the U.S., more often than not, there is a kind of 'final payment' demanded of female crossers. In short, the women are raped by the coyotes (smugglers) before they can make their way into the interior of this country.

After the woman is raped, the smuggler then forces her to hang her panties or bra from the branches of a nearby tree.

These sickening road signs along the illegal alien highway are meant to serve as a reminder to all of those who travel these dangerous routes of just exactly who controls the border…the cartels.

In recent years, Arizona's Pinal and Cochise Counties have seen an expanding number of these barbaric symbols dotting the once pristine landscape.

Smuggling routes are often marked with 'rape trees'—women’s under garments hung on tree limbs where a raped occurred, warning everyone of the failure to cooperate with the coyotes who prey on them.

On June 7, 2006, Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) read the following report into the Congressional Record:

Ripped from the bodies of unwilling women, undergarments cling to branches of a tree just a few feet from the lawless U.S.-Mexico border, dozens of pairs of underwear thrown there by rapists.

These are called rape trees. Each pair is a trophy from a woman that was smuggled into the United States, victims that are heard screaming in the desert. They are raped, even gang raped by illegal human smugglers, then forced into silence.

These trees are a warning. Illegal immigrants evade our borders but crime doesn’t evade them. Some become criminals. Some become victims. They are raped, robbed and murdered by other illegals, human smugglers and brutal criminals who then claim other victims.

More than 70 percent of their rapes, murders and child sex crimes are against Americans. One expert who studies sex crimes says about a hundred illegal sex offenders cross the border every day, leaving thousands of victims every year.

Rape trees are a warning to illegals not to talk. They should be a warning to Americans as well, to shout out against illegal entry and human smuggling.

Of course, this is yet another one of the vastly under-reported, ugly side effects of an unprotected border with Mexico.